Transportation Insider: Police to cite sidewalk pedalers Downtown

A recent warning to bicyclists to stay off Downtown sidewalks might have been a little too bold.

Rick Rouan, The Columbus Dispatch

A recent warning to bicyclists to stay off Downtown sidewalks might have been a little too bold.

Cleve Ricksecker, the executive director of the Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District, said at a business breakfast on Jan. 16 that the district’s security officers would crack down on bicyclists who aren’t riding on the road. But Ricksecker walked those comments back last week because those officers don’t have the authority to enforce Columbus’ ban on sidewalk riding.

Instead, “we’ll be asking the city (police) to do that work, at least in Downtown,” he said.

Police officers working Downtown on bicycles are exempt from the ban, though, because they are focused on watching the comings and goings of people and can’t safely navigate vehicle traffic in the street, Ricksecker said.

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A COTA driver’s quick action saved Chris Barnhart from being run over by a bus when his bicycle hit an icy patch on High Street last month.

In video recorded by the bus’s on-board camera system, Barnhart can be seen navigating the slushy street in the left lane until the bus is just about to drive by on his right. Then the 27-year-old disappears from the frame, falling out of view as a scream rings out from inside the bus.

The bus swerved right and jumped onto the curb, narrowly avoiding Barnhart, who was not seriously hurt. The Central Ohio Transit Authority’s board watched the video at a meeting last week where the bus driver, Sandra Oltmann, was honored.

Workers upgrading a sanitary-sewer line along Goodale Boulevard at Grandview Yard laid a temporary line atop the pavement. It crossed Northwest Boulevard a few car lengths north of Goodale, creating a foot-high bump for drivers.

Asphalt ramps and warning signs cushioned the effect, but drivers who didn’t slow down were in for quite a jostle.

The dance ended last week when the sewer work was completed and the line removed.

John Murphy, project manager for Layne Construction, said the company received no complaints about the bump.